nVidia manipulating reviews?

Page 2 - Seeking answers? Join the AnandTech community: where nearly half-a-million members share solutions and discuss the latest tech.

cmdrdredd

Lifer
Dec 12, 2001
27,052
357
126
Well, I didn't read this whole thread but I want to add this. In the little review of the driverset here on anandtech the performance went down in 4 out of 5 games tested.

How come everyone else says it went up? Regardless of the games used...performance increase indicates to most people that everything is faster. Not the case
 

nRollo

Banned
Jan 11, 2002
10,460
0
0
Originally posted by: cmdrdredd
Well, I didn't read this whole thread but I want to add this. In the little review of the driverset here on anandtech the performance went down in 4 out of 5 games tested.

How come everyone else says it went up? Regardless of the games used...performance increase indicates to most people that everything is faster. Not the case

Maybe for everyone else it did go up is the most likely answer.
 

Mem

Lifer
Apr 23, 2000
21,476
13
81
Originally posted by: nRollo
Originally posted by: cmdrdredd
Well, I didn't read this whole thread but I want to add this. In the little review of the driverset here on anandtech the performance went down in 4 out of 5 games tested.

How come everyone else says it went up? Regardless of the games used...performance increase indicates to most people that everything is faster. Not the case

Maybe for everyone else it did go up is the most likely answer.

I'm not surprised to be honest, other Nvidia users over at OCUK and other forums have had no performance increase,as always its not what Nvidia states but what the user in question gets out of the drivers,end of the day you'll get both positive and negative feedback.

Personally I never take the stated performance increase figures serious,I look for stability and bug fixes as my main priority,anything else I get is a bonus.
 

nRollo

Banned
Jan 11, 2002
10,460
0
0
Originally posted by: Mem
Originally posted by: nRollo
Originally posted by: cmdrdredd
Well, I didn't read this whole thread but I want to add this. In the little review of the driverset here on anandtech the performance went down in 4 out of 5 games tested.

How come everyone else says it went up? Regardless of the games used...performance increase indicates to most people that everything is faster. Not the case

Maybe for everyone else it did go up is the most likely answer.

I'm not surprised to be honest, other Nvidia users over at OCUK and other forums have had no performance increase,as always its not what Nvidia states but what the user in question gets out of the drivers,end of the day you'll get both positive and negative feedback.

Personally I never take the stated performance increase figures serious,I look for stability and bug fixes as my main priority,anything else I get is a bonus.


I don't have anything to do this weekend and the weather is too crappy to fish or hunt.

I'll for sure look into the gains for 178 vs 180 on Core216, maybe I'll throw the GTX280 SLi back in and test that to see if the gains were with multi card.

I'm inclined to think there are substantial performance gains to be had given posts by members here and elsewhere.
 

Mem

Lifer
Apr 23, 2000
21,476
13
81
Originally posted by: nRollo
Originally posted by: Mem
Originally posted by: nRollo
Originally posted by: cmdrdredd
Well, I didn't read this whole thread but I want to add this. In the little review of the driverset here on anandtech the performance went down in 4 out of 5 games tested.

How come everyone else says it went up? Regardless of the games used...performance increase indicates to most people that everything is faster. Not the case

Maybe for everyone else it did go up is the most likely answer.

I'm not surprised to be honest, other Nvidia users over at OCUK and other forums have had no performance increase,as always its not what Nvidia states but what the user in question gets out of the drivers,end of the day you'll get both positive and negative feedback.

Personally I never take the stated performance increase figures serious,I look for stability and bug fixes as my main priority,anything else I get is a bonus.


I don't have anything to do this weekend and the weather is too crappy to fish or hunt.

I'll for sure look into the gains for 178 vs 180 on Core216, maybe I'll throw the GTX280 SLi back in and test that to see if the gains were with multi card.

I'm inclined to think there are substantial performance gains to be had given posts by members here and elsewhere.

I think Anandtech's review says it all,
For the most part, performance we are seeing stayed stable. Oblivion saw a decrease in performance which is certainly worth noting. We could spend our time looking for where the performance gains come from, but looking at our highest quality tests at a decent resolution with a card targeted at gamers across 5 games and seeing nothing really doesn't impress us.

Of course, the performance gains are there somewhere.
 

40sTheme

Golden Member
Sep 24, 2006
1,607
0
0
Originally posted by: chizow
Originally posted by: Zap
Originally posted by: chizow
I certainly don't remember anyone raising a stink about the requirements AMD set forth with the R700 preview:

That's because all the cool kids hate NVIDIA right now.

lol now? Checks website url.... ;)

Originally posted by: thilan29
Originally posted by: chizow
AMD did have some stipulations for our R700 preview, they were as follows:

That didn't specify WHICH games to use though. IF nV did stipulate which games and settings to use that's not right since obviously they'd choose which ones make that look best. There isn't outright proof that this happened but from those 4 sites it seems as if that IS what happened.

You're missing the point. You need to look for motive and potential gain from any backdoor dealings.

What's the motivation for AMD limiting review sample? To limit exposure of poor scaling or outright driver bugs. By limiting number of games reviewed, you're more likely going to hit commonly reviewed and popular titles, which will reflect well on your product.

What's the motivation for NV to review 5-6 of the newest, most popular titles? If they did specify those games, what's the problem with selecting 5-6 of the top 10 selling games for the last 2 months? Its not like they're calling on old bellweather games like Mass Effect or CoH. At best you're suggesting TWIMTBP works and NV cards work better with new games. At worst you're suggesting ATI's monthly driver updates are always a month behind.

Except those stipulations were for PREVIEWS not REVIEWS i.e. before the card was out/good drivers were released to reviewers. So it makes sense to limit the amount.
 

chizow

Diamond Member
Jun 26, 2001
9,537
2
0
Originally posted by: 40sTheme
Except those stipulations were for PREVIEWS not REVIEWS i.e. before the card was out/good drivers were released to reviewers. So it makes sense to limit the amount.
No, it doesn't make any sense other than to manipulate reviews. The 4870 was already released with at least 2 driver revisions behind it and the 4870X2 was nothing more than CF on a card, so ATI should've been comfortable with their CF driver support with the X2, preview or not.

The only thing a mandated limit does is raise questions about the (in)efficiency of ATI's CF support. If they need to micro manage every single driver release and game profile for every CF configuration without any baseline CF support, that's a major red flag and something to consider about support going forward. It does help to explain many of the driver-to-driver problems CF users seem to be having though.